Thousands gather near Downtown Long Beach to protest Trump, ICE
'We need to stand up, not sit down,' said one man during the rally.
Thousands of people gathered peacefully around Bixby Park Annex near Downtown Long Beach for the “No Kings” protest Saturday morning.
The nationwide series of demonstrations were announced well before the Trump administration’s ICE raids in Southern California and across the country as a stand against Trump’s military anniversary parade in Washington, D.C. that just so happened to fall on his birthday.
Across the country, millions of Americans were expected to attend more than 2,000 demonstrations Saturday, according to USA Today. The "No Kings" name referenced both President Donald Trump's past references to himself as being like a king and recent efforts by Republicans in Congress to limit the courts' abilities to check Trump's actions — in effect, making his authority absolute, his critics say.
In Long Beach, protesters denounced the ongoing raids and military presence in the region as well as what many described as government overreach and outright authoritarian rule by Trump and his administration.
At one point during Saturday's protest, as cars on Ocean Boulevard honked in approval, the crowd chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go!"
One man, who declined to give his name, carrying a sign denouncing billionaires spoke of how the wealthiest individuals in the country are bent on dividing the country.
"They're trying to divide us, put us against each other, instead of focusing on the thing that's true: that they're hoarding all the wealth, all the money, removing all the opportunities and all the services that we need," the protester said. "So, we need to come together, unite, and understand that they're trying to divide us, so they can be comfortable on their thrones. Fuck them."
Another protester, Tony Sasso, a 72-year-old veteran who recently moved to Long Beach from Florida, expressed tremendous frustration with the entire federal government. Sasso lambasted the Republican's new legislation that proposes major tax cuts for wealthy people and spending cuts on social programs helping poorer Americans that Trump dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill."
"What's going on in this country right now and a Congress that should grow a spine is totally wrong," Sasso said. "What's going on in Congress, in the country, this 'big, ugly bill,' all of that, is wrong. It's hurting this country and we need to stand up, not sit down. We need to get up off our asses and do something about it."
On June 7, exactly one week before the "No Kings" rallies, masked agents from ICE raided a Home Depot in Paramount, which drew in activists and protesters who'd heard about the action on social media, according to the Los Angeles Times. Protests sprang up throughout Southern California, including one in Long Beach the next day that drew hundreds of residents.
Trump then announced, over the objections of both Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, that the protests required him to send thousands of National Guard servicemembers and another few hundred U.S. Marines to the city. A lawsuit from Governor Newsom alleging that the deployment was illegal is currently moving through the courts.
At Saturday's protest in Long Beach, one woman who declined to identify herself said the whole community was scared and hurting and showing up to protest was her way of helping.
"I'm here for the people," she said. "I'm here for the community. I'm here for the people that are afraid to speak up. We are not going anywhere. We deserve to be here, this is stolen land. We've been here long before."
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
